


Surge

by StAnni



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, implied infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 20:00:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16771894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StAnni/pseuds/StAnni
Summary: When he comes home he sees her, leaning against the railing, on the balcony.He drops his coat on the table as he makes his way to her, noticing that she doesn’t turn when he comes closer.  Something is definitely wrong.





	Surge

There is a noise in the bedroom. A quiet, whispery sound. 

Bruce watches as Selina, lighting fast, goes through the docket Jim gave him.  
She clearly knows what she is looking for. 

He steps away - heart is beating fast and a confused anger rising from a cold grip around his heart.  
He quickly slides back to the kitchen, then he opens and shuts the back door.

After about two seconds Selina walks into the hall where Bruce is hanging up his coat. Her smile is bright and her eyes are guarded. “Hey, nice to have you early for once.”

Bruce doesn’t linger too long on her face, knowing full well she’d be able to tell if he is putting up a front “Good to see you out of bed.”

Selina shrugs, smile still in her voice- exceedingly positive and absolutely not like Selina “I feel better today. Think I’m gonna go out tonight. Wanna come?”

Bruce doesn’t answer – he doesn’t know what to say to that and unwinds the scarf around his neck as he makes his way to the bedroom – Selina in tow. 

“Bruce, wanna come?” She repeats and he glances at her furtively, shaking his head “I’ve got some things to do here. But you go. Take a car.” 

He offers and he knows she wouldn’t take the offer. She is a terrible driver and he knows that she prefers to be chauffeured around rather than risk her own life behind a wheel. “I’ll make my way” she answers, in a thanks, but no thanks kind of way.

He watches as her eyes fall on his desk, just for a second, and she blinks back up to him, a new smile on her face as she moves closer, linking her arms around his waist, behind the small of his back. “I missed you.” She says, lying – and it is strange that she would feel the need to lie about something so mundane, so basic. Selina doesn’t miss anyone, Selina is like a cat – happy to be left alone, the only thing she misses from time to time is pizza. It is not a quality that he minds about, at all – he just knows her.

He pulls back quietly and she lets go, seemingly taken aback. “What’s up with you?” she asks in a juvenile tone he last heard when they were teenagers. “Nothing” He says. “Just…work” He stops at the desk, considering whether or not to just confront her. But he already knows that if she’s lying about small things, she will lie about big things. It is not worth it to raise red flags with her, unless he has a solid plan.

She pushes him down on the side of the bed and straddles his legs, hands on his shoulders. “You need to relax” she purrs and he lets her run her hands down his chest as she grinds forward. “Selina. Stop.” He says, hoping the muted warning in his voice will be enough to deter her. He is not in the mood for sex if she is lying to him. “Come on, Bruce, it’s been too long.” And with that her warm hand slips between them, unzipping his slacks and slinking inside, her grip soft but firm around his shaft – already, embarrassingly, half hard at her proximity.

He takes her hand out of his pants and gently, but determinedly pushes her back off of him. 

Angry and embarrassed (she didn’t have to lie about that) she gives him a dejected look. “What the hell?” And he answers, as calmly as he can, his tone stern as he gets up again, zipping up his slacks, “I said no, Selina.” 

She watches him, eyes guarded and calculating, as he goes towards the desk again. He doesn’t look at her. “Aren’t you going to go out?” He asks, not interested in the reply, only interested in distracting her – and it is apparent to the extent that he realizes that she must be hurt at his demeanor. When he does look at her, he sees that he is right, her eyes are shuttered and she is pulling herself together, ready to leave.  
“Don’t wait up.” She says quietly as she leaves.

When he goes through Jim’s file he can just about see where Selina has let the tip of her finger rest along a photograph. It is a candid photograph of the new district attorney, Rachel Dawes meeting with a known suspect. Bruce closes the file and sits down, his mind racing. There could be a hundred reasons why Selina touched that picture and these reasons could all center along the hundreds of cases that Rachel is currently dealing with. But there could be another reason as well – and Bruce feels a heaviness collect at his heart. Selina has found out about what happened between him and Rachel.

Bruce reaches for his phone, dialing Selina’s number, cursing at himself for having been cold to her – as this would no doubt spur the doubts in her mind further. Her phone rings out and he leaves a message “Selina, call me.” 

He doesn’t find her at the club, or at Barbara’s. She is also not at his restaurant or any of her other haunts. 

When he comes home he sees her, leaning against the railing, on the balcony. 

He drops his coat on the table as he makes his way to her, noticing that she doesn’t turn when he comes closer. Something is definitely wrong.

He stops and waits for her to speak but when she doesn’t he tries for even “I went to look for you.” He says and she doesn’t look at him, but she nods. She arch her back and leans further against the railing. He takes a step towards her, to the side of her, wanting to see her eyes. “Earlier tonight, when I came home, you were going through the file Jim left.”

She does glance at him then, and her eyes are cold, distant. “Man, “ she shakes her head at herself “I really have lost my touch, haven’t I?” 

It is the way that she says it, the rueful sarcasm that is underlined with real pain that gives him pause – that makes him think about how to answer. “Selina, I love you…”  
And she gives a short loud laugh, truly and bitterly amused, before she looks at him, covering her mouth with her gloved hand and her eyes, glassy with tears that she is holding back, narrowed in the sad smile. “Oh, you must really love me. You must.” 

He tries to touch her, to lead her back inside but she takes a step away from him and he stops, not wanting her to balk, to disappear like she used to when they were just children – playing at this.  
“I do” he says helplessly. It is the truth. Selina is, and will possibly always be, the only woman that he will ever love in the way that he loves her – an abiding love, a love that breaks and heals and shatters apart and forgives. She loses her smile finally and looks away from him, again shaking her head to herself, eyes serious and her tone resolute “I’m such a fool.”  
He interjects, fully aware of how desperate he sounds “You’re not. I am. I am, Selina. I made a mistake. I did.” 

She doesn’t move and tries to patch, urgently, tries to stop their world from falling apart. “This evening, I was cold to you, I know, I didn’t know what you were looking for in that file…I was angry, and I only realized, when I saw Rachel’s picture…”

At him mentioning her name, her green eyes snap to his, shrewdly watching his own, his mouth, the way the words come out of his mouth. She doesn’t trust him not to lie to her. She wants to know, wants to gauge him – that is clear. So he stops. He is quiet. The last thing he needs now is to confuse her further.

Angry she pushes inside, past him, and he grabs her elbow – decisively - in order to keep her from running off. “Wait, wait, please…”  
She yanks back from him and he takes a step back, holding his hands up. “Ask me anything, just stay, please.” And she whips back immediately “You’ve been sleeping with her.” And he breathes, he nods, because it is true, he slept with Rachel, once, while Selina was still in the hospital. “It happened once, just once, Selina. Yes.” 

The fact that it happened once, doesn’t seem to make Selina feel any better. Her eyes, wide and hurt, crinkle with sudden tears and she growls in frustration at her own emotional reaction. Then, composing herself, she turns to him, her look – devastated “You fooled me, Bruce.” 

It hurts, but having hurt her hurts more and Bruce takes it, like a knife to the gut, as she bites at him “You are worse…you are worse than all of those men you caught in the raids, you are worse than a monster because you pretend to be better.” 

He honestly had not expected Selina to ever find out. He would have moved worlds to keep her from finding out, from feeling that even for a moment he forgot about her. Just the guilt at the thought was enough to keep up some nights, he couldn’t imagine what she felt – how he would feel.

“Selina, I’m sorry. Please. I’m sorry, forgive me. Forgive me. Please.” 

Her eyes shine wet in the half-light, the study illuminating her from behind. As Bruce reaches for her again she hits him, hard, across the face. It is, unfortunately, not the first time they have had physical altercations, but it is the first time that Bruce feels that he deserves worse than she gives him. He waits for her to move, to speak, keeping his eyes averted. 

And when she does, he knows that there is no salvation. “You're not fooling me again, Bruce.”


End file.
